


please, don't go where i can't follow

by spockina



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, Light Angst, Sad with a Happy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:35:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23406091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spockina/pseuds/spockina
Summary: sometimes things don't go as planned
Relationships: Rhett McLaughlin & Link Neal
Kudos: 13





	please, don't go where i can't follow

> _“please, don’t go where I can’t follow”_

rhett’s world crashes around him. comes tumbling down, roof and all, everything debris and broken stones all laid down on the ground while he stands there, long legs shaking, everything he had prepared lost in the mess.

his father’s office is pristine and clean, dark wood and brown wallpaper, shelves on every wall, all lined with books upon books upon books, a few bibles amongst them. cole, well on his way to be a pastor, and rhett, here.

the thing is: rhett thought, for a moment, that he was going to get it. he was going to film school with link, and surely his father would understand when the time came and he didn’t back off of the idea. it wasn’t a game anymore, it was rhett’s future, and _obviously_ his father. would. understand. would believe him. would believe his dream.

he didn’t. in fact, he told rhett so in no uncertain terms. in unkind terms. in terms that said things about link that made rhett stop. you see, rhett had a speech ready; he was ready to fight for it, to argue his case with all his might, to win it, like a goddamn lawyer. and then his dad went and said stuff about link. and then rhett stopped, and knew, then, that it was a lost battle. he’d rather lose with link by his side (because he wasn’t ready to protect link the way his mind was screaming at him to do).

so he packed his case in the bag, and walked out of the dark room, straight into the buies creek sun, up so high, and walked out, out, out, until he reached link. until he could stutter out, “i ain’t doin’ it, link;” until he sat down on link’s bed, and cried fat, heavy tears that turned into sobs. until link hugged his back, whispering _shh shh, rhett it’s gon’ be okay_. it wasn’t going to be okay, it wasn’t going to be fucking okay, and rhett’s sadness slowly turned into anger, so deep and cutting that he had to get up, pacing around the room with heavy steps, looking equal parts lost and angry.

he spat out the story in fits, how his dad wanted him to be a fucking _lawyer_ (as much disdain in the word as he could muster), how he wasn’t going to fund rhett’s dumb teenage adventures, how film school didn’t mean movies in hollywood, and even if it did, how it wasn’t _a real career_. he was careful to leave out the bits about link, his best friend, his blood brother, the other half of rhett’s fucking brain.

and then it hit rhett. it hit him that link had everything in place; sue had blessed his endeavors, and link was, as a matter of fact, going to film school. and rhett wasn’t. and rhett, terrified, stopped. spun around fast, scrambling to get to the bed, where link was still sitting, now looking up at him.

he knelt in front of him, “link,” he whispered, and then hugged his brother, shaky shoulders enveloped by skinny arms. “please, please, _please_ , don’t go where i can’t follow you,” he said in one long breath, babbling more than talking, embarrassed, but honest, so so so honest.

time seemed to stop in those seconds. he was asking link to give up his dream, _their_ dream. it seemed fair, seemed _right_ , that link would go without him, that he would accomplish the dreams they had dreamed together. one half of a whole is better than zero, right?

“i’m sorry,” he started, “i’m sorry i even asked, an’ that i -” he continued, but was interrupted by a hand cradling the back of his neck, so tender, by arms going tighter around his shoulders.

“i ain’t goin’ nowhere without you, bo,” link whispered back, and rhett breathed for what seemed to be the first time that day. “wherever we’re goin’, we’re goin’ there together.”

**Author's Note:**

> this was the very first (official) thing i wrote for the randl fandom! (i say that bc there were some headcanons before i wrote this lol). it didn't have a title, so i just stuck the whole quote there and called it a day, lol
> 
> fun fact! this came about because i saw a samwise gifset of the _don't go where i can't follow_ and you know i just Had To
> 
> this was originally posted on tumblr [@spockina](https://spockina.tumblr.com/post/181764754829/please-dont-go-where-i-cant-follow-rhetts); you can find me there


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